Beloved Memphis Institution Closes Due to High Crime

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Live from the Liberty University studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's favorite gun-toting, Bible-clinging, deplorable America. That's us, that's right, I love this American ride. Todd Starr. Oh yeah. You know, I'm irritated.

I'm in a bad mood today, ladies and gentlemen. I'm blaming Ben Dieter for this. Hello, everybody. Welcome to the John Stearns Radio Program. Happy to have you with us today.

Ben, I wished you had not told me. I know you tell me whenever there's breaking news that I want to hear about it. And you took that literally. But there are some things, Ben, that I probably did not need to know because it's going to ruin the show today. And I am really frustrated by this.

So we have been dealing with a big problem here in the Memphis area, and it's the same problem that's happening in New York City, where you've got over, what, 700, almost 800,000 illegal aliens living in New York City, and 60,000 of them are criminals, and crime is just off the charts. It's just unbelievable. As bad as it is in New York City, it is even worse in Memphis, Tennessee, where our population is what, 1.3 million or so? The city is only 600,000. Right.

But the metro area is 1.3 million. It's not big. It's not big. And not by, I mean, New York City comparisons where you have, what, 14 million people living in the New York City metropolitan area.

So we have been just devastated by these pro-criminal Democrats and, dare I say, the jackasses that we have elected to the city council and to the mayor's office. These people are pro-criminal, and there's really no other polite way to say it. But they have turned our city into a war zone, so much so that 200 yards from our broadcast bunker, which is heavily fortified day before yesterday. And I don't know, I literally miss this by about 10 minutes, Ben. By about 10 minutes, I miss the shooting.

We have a beautiful family-owned, brand-new, beautiful gas station, and it's a convenience store. And it's about 200 yards from our broadcast bunker. And it's a family-owned business, and they're so proud of it. It's one of the cleanest stores you will see. And we are in a very affluent area of Memphis.

The area is called East Memphis. very affluent and you had a couple of teenage thuglings show up day before yesterday and just started opening fire and it was because they couldn't get cigars that was the report which so they couldn't get cigars and no kids smoke cigars but it upset them was it a 14 and a 17 year old that's right all right yeah and then some poor guy gets shot and this is this is 200 feet from our station. I mean, it's and it literally did quite significant damage to the gas station, which is beautiful. Then they shot up the gas station. Yeah.

So that happened day before yesterday. And now comes word. And this is where I'm getting this. Ben, how could you tell this? Share this information.

Can I insert the programming note? There is a roll of thumb in Todd's newsroom, which if it's bad news, don't tell Todd before the show. You can tell Todd Starnes things that might make him a little bit upset, grumpy, you guys, only after the show because he has to be focused. Let me just say, when I saw this headline, I shrieked and I looked at the team here, Dylan, Cassie. I said, do we tell Todd?

I mean, I was besides my head like Todd's going to die. And you quite literally almost croaked downstairs. My favorite restaurant in Memphis is called Houston's. And it's a pretty nice upscale restaurant, but it's not too hoity-toity, right? But it's a great place.

I go there probably twice a week. All right. I go there a lot. And it's just one of your own booth, basically. Yes.

They know me by name. You know, it's one of those places. And it's a very popular place. And it is in East Memphis. And they have announced, effective immediately, they are shutting down.

And the reason they're doing that is because of public safety concerns. And this is it angers me because there are some fine people. And, you know, whenever I go out to a restaurant, my rule of thumb is I always I always tip the bill.

So if the bill is, I don't know, one hundred dollars, they get one hundred dollar tip. That's just how I am. And it is very generous. And so I've got to know the waiters. And it's kind of funny because they do kind of fight.

They used to fight over who gets stars because they know they're going to get a good tip. and all those people don't have jobs now. We're talking about dozens of people that are now unemployed because our damn city council and our government leaders won't address crime. Instead, what do they do? They blank around and they say, oh, it's a perception problem.

Or even worse, how dare you racist?

Well, it's not my fault that 90 freaking percent of the crime in Memphis, Tennessee is committed by black people. That's not my problem.

So all you damn black pastors out there who get up and use your pulpits to spew racism, why don't you tell people to start following the golden rule? Why don't you start telling them to follow the 10 freaking commandments? I'm sick and tired of it. And again, the issue here, ladies and gentlemen, it's an issue that many blue cities across this nation are dealing with, is that they are coddling these criminals. and if you dare speak out they call you a racist well I don't play that game and it seems to me that maybe the racist are the people on the city council that are turning a blind eye when these businesses are being literally run out of town and I've got news for all you people out there in the suburbs of Memphis Tennessee they're coming after you next because Ben what happened they didn't address the crime in downtown Memphis and then it spilled over into Midtown and now it is right here in East Memphis, and it's soon coming to all of the suburbs.

And when they finish pillaging and plundering the suburbs, they're coming after all you folks in the outlying counties. And let me tell you something, it's not just Memphis or New York City. This is happening all over the country. And Ben, unless, and here's the even bigger problem. We have feckless, neutered Republicans in this community who don't even have the courage, the moral courage to stand up and say anything because they're afraid of losing their government contracts.

I am angry about this. They had the great chicken tenders, dead gummit. And the best spinach dip. Great spinach dip. In America.

Bastards. This is the one morning Todd's, or I guess afternoon, Todd's going to get away with saying some naughty words. I'm just, at what point do the people rise up? At what point did they say, you know what? Enough of this racism.

They didn't like this restaurant because what did this restaurant have? Standards. They did have standards. The owners of this, they were defamed. The owners of this institution, this restaurant that is so well loved and well attended.

Honestly, you drive past this restaurant every night. There's a waiting list. They have been defamed as being racist. And why is that bad? Because they said you can't smell like marijuana.

You can't smell like marijuana. It was all over the paper. I mean, it got national news. This is a racist restaurant because they crack down on people smelling like marijuana and smoking pot in the parking lot.

So right next door to that is the Whole Foods. But they don't call it Whole Foods here. They call it Whole Foods. You want to know why they call it Whole Foods? Because they got all these prostitutes and criminals in the parking lot.

It's ridiculous. And nobody does anything about it.

So the mayor is not going to care if this restaurant closes. Why?

Well, because it's the wrong group of people. They don't care about these folks. No, they don't. They're the wrong color. Yep.

I'm sorry, but that's the reality here. No, I'm not sorry. We say what needs to be said on this radio program. Folks, I am just so angry over this, and it frustrates me because Memphis could be a beautiful town, and it's beautiful people here. It's a great town, but we are literally being overrun by the criminals.

And honest to goodness, what we need here is an America first political party that is willing to confront these Democrats. I actually, I kid you not, I was at an event. I will not name names. But I decided to go out and it was one of these sign holding events for the campaign, the presidential campaign. And they had all these Democrats come over.

They started chanting.

So I started chanting back. Oh, we don't do that. This is Memphis. We're very polite people here.

So just let the Democrats know. Forget that. The Democrats are the ones out there calling all of you Republicans racist and zemophobes and homophobes. You don't want to chop off a two-year-old's penis? What's wrong with you, you transphobic bigot?

That's what they're calling us. You can't say that at croquet clubs, Todd. Todd's very good at croquet, by the way. You know what's going to happen? You know what's going to happen?

You're going to have to start using the mallets as weapons. You know what's going to happen? They're going to start doing the carjackings at the Republican Party's cocktail parties. That's what's going to happen. All those golf courses, all those golf carts are going to be carjacked.

They're coming after everybody. Yeah.

I am so upset about this, ladies and gentlemen. You guys don't understand. If you drive past Houston, you will see the caddy, and you will see Todd sitting there over in the corner booth. It's his own booth, and he's eating spinach dip, and they're chicken. It's good food.

I'm just disgusted by this. I'm sorry for ruining the... You can't even go to Popeyes because you're getting carjacked in the drive-thru.

So, I mean, there are only limited places where you can get gas or food in Memphis anymore and be safe. This is the safest part of our city, and it's closed due to crime. Here's what they said. After much deliberation, we have closed our Memphis, Houston. Regretfully, the operating environment in the vicinity has become increasingly difficult over the years because of public safety.

While we know that this development will be disappointing to many of our guests, it is a decision that we did not make lightly. We would like to thank our guests and their support through the years, and we hope to have an opportunity to serve you in the future. I want to start a militia. We've got to start a militia. If the police department is not going to protect us, if City Hall is not going to protect us, by the way, we need to call.

What needs to happen here in all seriousness, folks? we have what 48 gangs is what they announced 48 gangs now operating in Memphis Tennessee when when the mayor got elected the first meeting he held was with gang leaders I'm curious what exactly did the mayor tell those gang leaders did the mayor say we're going to let you run the city and we're just going to turn a blind eye is the mayor getting cash under the table from the gangstas is is that what's going down here i'm curious to know what that meeting was all about we have 48 gangs operating here and that's not even including the venezuelan gangs buenos dias i wonder if they're done at tacos and guan anyway um i i wonder if it's time and and i'm curious to hear from our memphis audience here bear with me we're gonna we're gonna get to the national stories. Folks, I am just fired up. An attack against Houston is an attack on the nation. Bear with us.

We're in grieving. I wonder if the if the governor needs to step in and hear hear me on this, because crime is so far off the charts that they need to declare martial law in Shelby County, Tennessee and Memphis. Declare martial law, bring in the military, root out these gangs. And if it is street-by-street open warfare, then so be it. I think there are a lot of law-abiding gun owners who would be willing to be deputized.

Because God forbid, what happens next? Rendezvous? Is that going to be the next business to close or central barbecue? Don't come after the Peabody. What about the ducks?

I'm shocked they're still alive. I'm shocked they're not being eaten by the Venezuelan king members. I'm telling you. It's bad. Look, it is bad here.

Businesses are shutting down all over the city. People are literally fleeing. You know, they're talking about Memphis is a rising. No, the only thing rising here is the crime because people are literally moving out of the city. We have lost thousands and thousands of people here in our city that have moved away.

Meanwhile, guess what our city leaders are currently holding a press conference on? I'm all ears. Biden's DOJ just found in a new bombshell report dropped today that Memphis police are racist. Oh, my God. it's also those honkies those white people those honkies on the police force i knew it i knew it they're intentionally pulling over all of these black people those nasty racist clan member honkies but it turns out it turns out and this wasn't in the story that the associated press wrote about memphis and this is a big national news story they failed to mention that 90 of the crime committed in Memphis is actually committed by people of the non-Caucasian persuasion.

Also, the police chief in Memphis is black. The mayor of Memphis is black. Most of the police management force is black. And almost 60% of the police force itself is black. They left all those items, all of those truths out of the national news coverage because they want you to think that a bunch of white police officers in Memphis are running around just intentionally arresting black people.

Now, they're saying it was Tyree Nichols, right? The Tyree Nichols thing where he was killed, basically beat by officers, by officers. They didn't tell you that those officers happened to be drumroll, please. Not late. That's right.

They were black officers. They leave those details out again. They want they've got a narrative here. And ultimately, this is the reality. Yes, white people are being victimized by crime here, but the majority of people being victimized by crime in Memphis, Tennessee, are law-abiding black people.

And they don't care. They don't care.

So my question now is, does City Hall have some sort of an under-the-table agreement with these gangs? Are they getting kickbacks? And is that the reason why the gangs are being left untouched? That's what I want to know. And now I'm trying to figure out where to go for dinner tonight.

Unbelievable. Oh, we've got to take a break. Folks, I am sorry. I am really fired up over this. I guess you could ask people for new restaurant recommendations.

Someplace where you can open Cary. 901-260-5926. I mean, our Memphis listeners, are you guys just fed up with this? And by the way, you folks in Mississippi, you better get ready because they're coming to your town, too. And they're going to at some point you have to stand and fight.

And that's why I'm just so disappointed in the Republicans here in this part of the state. I have just, you know, I've given money to these people. It's just really heartbreaking to know there is not a political party that's willing to stand up for business owners and law-abiding citizens here in this part of the country. Maybe we need a new political party, the America First Party. 901-260-5926.

That's 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. Folks, hang on tight because we're heading into one of the most critical elections this nation's ever seen. And let's be honest, there's no guarantee it's going to go your way. We've already seen how far the radical left will go to push their agenda.

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You know, they know that they're not going to be spending any time in jail. Maybe they're in on it, or they're getting a part of the collection. Steve, I'm with you a thousand percent there. I do wonder now. I really do, because what other benefit does it have for a city like Memphis or any other town in America to be completely disrupted and destroyed.

It makes no sense unless you're getting some money under the table.

Well, if that store owner would tell you that he's closing because he doesn't want to pay the protection, then he has something. Maybe. All right, we're going to look into that. Steve, good thought, good call, and thank you for listening to us. 901-260-5926 is our telephone number.

That's 901-260-5926. Coming up, we are going to be following this crazy story out of the Big Apple where you had the Marine veteran, Daniel Penny, who is now waiting to find out if he's going to prison because he was a hero on the subway. Also, we're going to be following up with that crazy Supreme Court case. We're going to be talking with one of the state lawmakers that was heavily involved in that. Hang tight, everybody.

We'll be right back. This is the Todd Stern Show. my pillow is excited to announce their christmas extravaganza is finally here get this season's flannel sheets for as low as 59.98 they won't last long so get them while you can their famous my slippers those haven't been on sale for over a year normally 119 dollars but for a limited time only 59.98 and their six-piece towel sets are back in stock with extremely limited quantities only $29.98. With hundreds of MyPillow products, there's something for everyone on your Christmas list. From bathrobes, duvets, quilts, down comforters, and so much more.

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I would say nobody has to provide this medication to adolescents. These are not doctors being forced to provide this medication. These are doctors who are wanting to treat their patients in the best way that they know how based on the best available evidence to us. And these are young people who may have known since they were two years old exactly who they are, who suffered for six, seven years before they had any relief. And what's happening here, it's not the kids who are consenting to this treatment, it's the parents who are consenting to the treatment.

And as a parent, I would say, we, when our children are suffering, we are suffering. And these are parents who love their children, who are listening to the advice of their doctors of the mainstream medical community and doing what's right for their kids, and the state of Tennessee has displaced their judgment. All right, that was the bearded female ACLU attorney, and her name is Chase Strangio, and certainly Strangio is appropriate here, ladies and gentlemen, on CNN the day before yesterday's Supreme Court arguments regarding these transgender surgeries and puberty blockers and the fact that we're having a conversation, and this woman literally believes that two-year-olds have the mental bandwidth to determine whether or not they are transgender.

Well, the Supreme Court taking up a case that was based, originated right here in Tennessee, thanks to the legislation of my next guest. He is the Senate Majority Leader in Tennessee, Jack Johnson. Senator, good to have you with us here in our Memphis studio.

Well, thanks, Todd. It's good to be with you. Thanks for having me.

So you were there yesterday at the Supreme Court. You were actually inside the building. What was that experience like? It was amazing. I've never been in the United States Supreme Court building.

I don't think, even on a tour. I've been to Washington many times. I've toured the Capitol, the White House, and those things, but I've never been in the Supreme Court building.

So walking in there with my house sponsor of this legislation, William Lamberth from Sumner County here in Tennessee, we walked in, we looked at each other and said, well, we've kind of created a little dust up here with our legislation. Just a little bit. Let's take people back to the origins of all of this. And a lot of it has to do with the reporting of our good friend Matt Walsh. Yes.

And what was happening at the Vanderbilt Medical Center. Exactly.

So in late 2022, due to some excellent reporting from the Daily Wire and Matt Walsh and others at the Daily Wire, it was uncovered that, yes, that prominent medical facility right there in Middle Tennessee in the Nashville area had a dedicated clinic, a clinic dedicated to pediatric transgender surgeries and obviously prescription of these very harmful drugs. That created an outcry from one end of Tennessee to the other. And so we got to work immediately in crafting legislation that we introduced in 2023. Of course, it passed overwhelmingly. We have good conservative supermajorities here in Tennessee, grateful for that.

It was promptly signed into law by Governor Bill Lee. We figured we would probably get sued. We did get sued by the Biden Department of Justice and the ACLU, and it's made its way.

Now, the good news is, Todd, that the law is in effect right now. Kids are protected in Tennessee because the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals did uphold our law. It's shocking because when you listen to the attorney who argued, and she made history by being the first transgender attorney to argue before the court, her argument is that children as young as eight years old should be able to have these kinds of surgeries, And mommy and daddy should almost be taken out of the equation here. Did you ever imagine that we would be in a place in this country where that would actually, you know, possibly become the law of the land? No.

In fact, I've made that comment several times. I've had the good honor of serving in the Tennessee State Senate for 18 years now. And if you'd have told me 10 years ago that I would have to introduce legislation to prohibit removing body parts of a child because of something called gender dysphoria. And let me be clear, I recognize that kids do go through difficult times in puberty and adolescence, but the answer to that is not to perform irreversible surgeries or to prescribe medications that will have irreversible negative implications. Which again is why there are laws on the books determining, well, you've got to have parental permission to get a tattoo or to get your ears pierced, And yet you've got these radicals out there saying that there should be no parental involvement in some of these cases related to the LGBT community.

Yeah, that's exactly right. And listen, at the end of the day, the state has a compelling interest. All states do. I serve in the Tennessee legislature. States have a compelling interest to protect children.

And you gave some great examples. And I'm all for parental rights, but we don't let parents abuse their kids. We don't let them starve their kids. There are guardrails. And this legislation is not necessarily directed at parents as much as it is the medical providers who would perform these surgeries or prescribe these harmful drugs.

And again, correct me here if I'm wrong, but the argument coming from the other side is if you do not allow a child to have this procedure, they could end up killing themselves and committing suicide. And I know that was part of the argument, the arguments before the court yesterday. It was. And so we did a lot of research into this and talked to a lot of mental health professionals, medical professionals when we were considering this legislation. And what you find is that those who do go through some type of a transition procedure or process actually end up having a very high suicide rate as well.

And what it fundamentally boils down to, in my view, is the answer to a child who is struggling with their body and the development of their body is not to perform surgery or prescribe medications that will have irreversible effects. It's to provide good mental health treatment, counseling, love and support, hopefully in a good, strong family and community. Get that child through that difficult time. And our law is strictly, the prohibition is strictly for kids. We recognize you as an adult at the age of 18.

If on your 18th birthday you want to go start taking medication or have some procedure and remove a body part, you can do so, but we shouldn't be doing it to children. What's going on here? Why do you think this is all being directed at the children? I mean, we've seen this with the drag queen story times, the books, the controversial books in school libraries. What should we read into all of this?

Well, there are a lot of different theories about it, and I think it's a combination of things. I think these devices, I'm holding up my Apple iPhone here that these kids are addicted to, and there's all kinds of influences, negative influences on social media and otherwise. I also think that there are some in the transgender community, the LGBTQ community, who recruit, who encourage, and some people use the term grooming of these kids, and it messes with their minds. And so we just have to draw very, very strict guardrails in terms of, you know, what medical providers will be able to do to kids who are going through that. State Majority Leader here in Tennessee, Jack Johnson, joining us.

It was his legislation passed in 2023 that led to yesterday's big Supreme Court case. And I understand this is a lot of folks don't realize that there are sometimes a case will go before the Supreme Court and it will only be specific towards that particular incident. But this is going to be a landmark ruling. And tell our listeners what that means. Yeah.

So we're up to, I think, 25 or 26 states now who have passed some variation of a prohibition on these surgeries and use of these drugs on kids for purposes of treating gender dysphoria.

So a lot of states have passed laws. A number of them have been sued.

Some have been enjoined. Different circuit courts of appeals have rendered different decisions. And so that sets it up for the United States Supreme Court to decide if they want to grant cert, excuse me, and take up the case. We found out a few months ago that, in fact, they had decided to take up our case. And the case is U.S.

versus Scrimetti, Jonathan Scrimetti, our attorney general. And in fact, our law and also a law passed in Kentucky, but we're kind of the lead on this. And it was our legislation that we were talking about yesterday at the Supreme Court. and the determination of whether states have the right to pass this type of legislation So the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decided that we do They affirmed our law and let hope the Supreme Court agrees So I curious to hear your thoughts on the questions that were asked. I think Justice Alito was pretty animated.

What was that experience like? Well, again, it was just fascinating to be sitting there listening to these nine U.S. Supreme Court justices up there on the dais talking to the presenters, the Solicitor General for the state of Tennessee, Matt Rice, argued. He did a great job. He really did.

And I know Matt, and he's a brilliant lawyer. He did a good job. You had the U.S.

Solicitor General and then the other individual from the ACLU that argued on behalf of the plaintiffs. And so just watching the justices and what was important to them, you had Kavanaugh that went down a particular line of questioning. You had Amy Coney Barrett. You mentioned Justice Alito.

So it was really, really interesting. It's interesting to me that Justice Neil Gorsuch did not say a word. He didn't ask a single question. Justice Jackson, who could not define what a woman was during her confirmation hearing, she, of course, inserted race into all of this. I was not terribly surprised by that.

I could not understand her line of reasoning. And she was trying to draw a correlation between interracial marriage and performing these surgeries in prescribing these drugs to kids for the ability to do so. And part of the argument on behalf of the plaintiffs is that our law is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause in the 14th Amendment. I don't see that. Obviously, General Scrimetti and our attorneys don't see that either.

That's the case that the plaintiffs are trying to make. And somehow Justice Jackson was trying to correlate that with interracial marriage. It seems the general train of thought here across the board, even in a lot of the left-leaning newspapers, is that Tennessee proved its case. And, you know, it looks like it's going to be a good day for you guys. Is that the takeaway?

It is. I don't want to get my hopes up too much. You know, it's kind of like Election Day on November 5th. I was feeling pretty optimistic, but I didn't want to get too excited about it. And your legal scholars that you have read about in the press or seen on TV, they agree with your analysis of that.

And so I'm hopeful. I think we can count on three votes for the plaintiffs, and that would be the three liberal justices that are on the court. Among the remaining six, we've got to get five, but I'm hoping for a 6-3 decision. You know what I find fascinating about this? Immediately after yesterday's proceedings, they all meet behind the court, and they actually vote.

So they already know how this is going to go, and then they spend the rest of the time writing their opinions. Writing the opinion and then deciding when to release it.

So it's a big day, and I'm just so proud of Tennessee that we are, again, leading the nation. We do in so many different ways, but we're hopeful for a good outcome. All right. Well, Senator, before we let you go, there was a report that came out that showed in the presidential election every single county in Tennessee actually had an increase in the number of Republican votes. What do you make of that?

Well, I'm encouraged by it because, as you know, Tennessee is one of the fastest growing states in America, one of the most moved to states in America. And so you wonder what that's going to do to your voting demographics. We're a very conservative state here in Tennessee. We have Republican supermajorities in our General Assembly, and we want to keep it that way.

So when you have so many people moving in from California, Illinois, New York, you wonder if that's going to start to change, are we going to start to lose some of our reddish hue and turn a little more purple? But we didn't see that. In fact, it went the other direction. I'm glad because that did happen in North Carolina, our neighbors to the east there. And we don't want that.

You can come to our beautiful state, just leave your politics at home is the general rule of thumb. I ran into someone from California. They had a great line, a very conservative individual that got tired of the leftist policies in California, moved to Tennessee. And he said, trust me, I am a refugee, not a missionary.

So I'm fleeing something, not wanting to bring something to Tennessee. Because we see what they're doing to Nash. We call it Nash Vegas now. All right. Good stuff.

Well, congratulations, Senator. Thanks, Todd. What an exciting thing. And thank you for taking a stand. Absolutely.

I'm proud to do it. All right. Senator Jack Johnson, ladies and gentlemen, here in our studios. Hang tight. We've got to take a quick break.

We're going back to the phones. 901-260-5926 is our number. That's 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. Are you feeling overwhelmed by the increasing cost of health insurance?

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Well done, Tennessee. And we've got to protect the children, ladies and gentlemen. We just have to. Let's go to the phones. Working some calls here.

901-260-5926. Let's say hello to Lonnie in Collierville, Tennessee. Hi, Lonnie. What's on your mind today? I can't believe it, Todd.

I've been listening to you for years. After Rush and everything, I figured you was the man. But I'm concerned. I was talking to my wife. I saw the Tyree Nichols trial thing, and I said to my wife, you know what, they're going to keep racism alive here in Memphis and in Tennessee.

I thought people had gotten paid. I thought the people that had done the evil had been put in prison. but when things like this are dragged out it makes it seem like oh memphis is so racist well it does make you wonder what's going on right lonnie i mean look uh those officers um there's video evidence um it is very clear that they beat that man to death for whatever reason it doesn't matter they beat the man to death those officers need to pay the price for that it doesn't matter if they're black or white in this case though and again the doj comes in and says Memphis, the Memphis Police Department's racist and they're using the Tyree Nichols case. The implication is that the officers who did the beating were all white. And that's just simply not correct.

I thought we had a black female over police chief. Yeah.

Yes. Lonnie, you are correct. We do, sir. Yeah.

Yeah.

I know. Shocker, Lonnie. It's a shocker. How can we have all these black people in power and we're racist well lonnie it's a it's a head scratcher my friend and then when we talk about kamala okay uh how is america racist and how is it that racist people put trump in when she was vice president and she was black she was black then Why didn't they celebrate the fact that, hey, we have had the first female, and she was black, and she was vice president? How come we didn't hear that?

Lonnie, it's a great question. And I do wonder, and we see this in Whitehaven, which is where my family's from. You know, my father was born and raised there, and now it's really become a central hub for the thriving black middle class in Memphis. and you know you see business owners coming out and saying you know we've got to stop this racist nonsense this is not about race this is about protecting our businesses this is about growing our businesses making sure our kids are in are in good schools and they're learning Lonnie yeah yeah last thing I want to say is uh I'm so glad that we got common sense in Tennessee see uh our governor our legislation house of representatives and and the senate and we ain't buying this uh crap uh even with the transgender thing okay if you want to be adult and you want to mess up your body and everything hey but i don't want to pay for it lonnie i'm with you on that and and look you're 18 years old the constitution gives you the right to do what you want to do as long as I don't have to pay for it. But, Lonnie, it's heartbreaking to see these children, that there are things being done to them that are irreversible, and that is heartbreaking to see that happening.

Can I say one more thing, Todd? Yes, sir. It looked like the greater Memphis area and Tennessee will learn something by the last election, even for Senate. uh miss johnson ran against marshall oh yes gloria johnson the democrat yes sir yeah she was the one that stood with the tennessee three or something like that that's right again you know what it is lonnie they know that the left knows that race is like the third rail and for a lot of people they really buy into all of that and and i i hate that because I see what that does and it's just not right and it's not the reality of it so anyway Lonnie you got to give us a holler back one of these days will you promise to do that okay I'll do that all right thank you for having me on Lonnie God bless you lives in Collierville Tennessee a great town by the way folks you got to check I wish maybe Houston's could open up a restaurant there I mean maybe that that would be an option I don't know all right yeah Dieter I feel bad. I use language that I normally don't use, but we're talking about Houston's for crying out loud.

All right. Coming up, we have got a lot going on nationally. We're going to be checking in on the Pete Hegseth nomination. Folks, what you did yesterday moved the needle. It really did.

But we've got to keep up the pressure and we've got to tell these Republican senators they've got to do the right thing here and they've got to push through all of President Trump's nominees. Period. All right. Hang tight. We're going to get to your calls as well.

I see Sonny in Ocala, Florida. O.G. Bill, I think, called. Hang tight, everybody. We're going to get to your calls.

901-260-5926. And by the way, what are those UFOs doing over New Jersey? What's going on there? We have an update on that story as well. All right.

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Live from the Liberty University studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's Common Sense Conservative Commentary from Todd Starr. That's us, that's right. I love this American ride. And hello, America. Welcome to the Todd Stearns Radio Show, Hour 2 Underway.

Trust you are doing well today. If you would like to become a part of today's program, I need you to write this telephone number down. You will need it to call 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Well, I want to go right away to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line.

Always an honor to have our good friend from Florida's Suncoast hanging out with us, Congressman Greg Stubbe. Congressman, welcome back. Thank you. Good to see you. Congressman, we understand that a little bit later on this afternoon, you're going to be meeting with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy and the Department of Government Efficiency.

Honestly, there are so many things to be excited about in the upcoming administration, but I'm pretty darn excited about Doge. What about you? Yeah, I think it'll be great. And I assume that Elon and Vivek are going to give the House kind of an overview of what their plans are strategically and kind of what their thinking is as we go into the president being sworn in on January 20th and then how that interplays with what we do in the House. Obviously, I support massive reductions in our federal workforce, massive reductions in the bureaucracy that we have up in Washington, massive reductions in spending.

We're $36 trillion in debt, and we don't have a lot to show for it.

So I think their out-of-the-box thinking, especially with Elon's experience in business, I think will really revolutionize and strategize the way that our government should function and how we should streamline how the government in Washington works. You know, Congressman, I know that the other side is saying, oh, this is going to be devastating. It's going to take forever to get all these things through. I would disagree with that. I think you could probably go through in an afternoon and find some pretty immediate savings.

I'm thinking the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, that's $500 million that we could take off the ledger. Yeah, the Department of Education, I mean, President Trump has talked about that. I've co-sponsored bills to do away with that. Those are the type of functions that should be done at the state level, not at the federal level. Why are we paying bureaucrats an average of $100,000 a year to come up with policy when we have states that do the policy for their states and then school boards that have the authority to implement school policy in their different counties.

So I think there's a lot of areas for reform. The federal government has gotten so massive over our history, and it just keeps growing. It doesn't go back in time. I mean, even things I vote against on the floor in suspension bills is creating new task force and creating more government, and we should be going the opposite direction, especially with the debt that we are facing as a country. 10,000% accurate, Congressman.

And so I'm excited to see what they've come up with. And I know, are you going to be going into the meeting? Are you going to give Elon a list? Here are some of the things that I think we need to be getting rid of. Do you have a list ready to go?

I have had things that I've thought for years that shouldn't be done at the federal level that's a state purview like the Department of Education. My assumption is we're going to hear from them, and then there'll probably be a short period of time for members to ask questions. I'm excited to see what they're going to come up with. And actually, once Trump takes office and they're able to get into all the records and see the mismanagement, see the fraud, waste, and abuse, I mean, the 80,000 IRS agents that Biden just put in place, all these type of things that can be drastically reformed, I think they can look at all of these different agencies. Just the USDA has 100,000 employees.

What are they all doing? And are they all here up in Washington? And one of the things that some of the FBI stuff, there's 7,000 agents that work up here. And one of the things that Kash Patel wants to do is push those agents out to actually do law enforcement in our country, which is what they're supposed to be doing.

So I think there's a lot of things in every facet of our government that they will be able to look at and be able to make the determination that this needs to be trimmed. And then Congress, with President Trump's leadership, is going to have to make that decision to pass those bills to cut it so that in the future it's not brought back and grown back to the size that it is now. yeah congressman um moving on and you mentioned for example cash patel um again uh president trump also has a host of nominees he's already named including pete hegseth pete and i worked together for a number of years at fox his wife was my executive producer our offices were right next door and i'm telling you the pete hegseth they're writing about using all these anonymous sources i i don't recognize that guy that's not the guy that i knew at fox news channel Well, and he just came and spoke to the Republican Study Committee yesterday. And I think one of the points that is being lost in the mainstream media and lost to the American people is all of these, just like you said, are anonymous, anonymous complaints, if you will, and allegations, if you will, that are not substantiated by fact. None of these people are willing to come forward and say this actually happened.

So you have what you know, what kind of happened to Kavanaugh. You saw what happened to Matt Gaetz. The mainstream media will stop at nothing to stop President Trump to fulfill his agenda. And if the president wants Pete Hegstaff as the head of the Department of Defense, then that's the president's choice to put that there. We have a Republican Senate.

The Republican Senate should heed to the president for him to get his nominee and to be able to do the things that President Trump ran on. President Trump got elected by the American people to do the type of things that Pete Hegstaff and his other nominees are going to do in these different agencies. and of course the mainstream media and the swamp will try to do anything to try to prevent that from happening and we can't let that happen no no we can't and i i really do hope and i'm i'm frustrated by some of the things coming out of uh the senate as a matter of fact um here is joni erst guys let's play cut number four please okay it doesn't sound on your answer that you've gotten to a yes. If I'm wrong about that, correct me. And if that is the case, it sounds to me as if the hearing will be critical for his nomination.

Am I right about that? I think you are right. I think for a number of our senators, they want to make sure that any allegations have been cleared. And that's why we have to have a very thorough vetting process. And that's why I was happy to sit down with Pete and have that conversation with him yesterday.

So again, all I will say at this time is that we did have a very thorough discussion over a number of those issues. And the vetting will continue, I am certain, through the next month or so until we approach that hearing date. You know, Congressman, you heard the senator there, and there's some speculation that she actually wants the job of defense secretary. But my point is, this is pretty black and white to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, if President Trump wants the nominee, he ought to get the nominee. I agree 100%.

If that's who President Trump wants to put in those different places, he should have the authority as president to do that. Republican senators should stand behind him. If there's criminal conduct that was going on and there's a record of that, that's different. there's no criminal conduct here these allegations are from anonymous sources there's no factual um basis for a lot of these things because one of the rights that we have as americans is to confront your accuser in our constitution and and you can't even do that because these allegations are anonymous so i i think you absolutely should have the hearing i'm uh uh very encouraged by the fact that pete is willing to fight and continue not just give up uh because that's exactly what the mainstream media and the swamp want him to do is throw all the stuff at him and he quit and then they go to the next person and then that person is going to be the target and then they're going to try to throw all this stuff at them until they quit and and we can't let that happen and i think that it needs to move forward have a senate hearing and if there's not any factual basis to back any of this up and again some of this is personal uh a lot of this is is personal things that occurred and we're talking about somebody that's going to be leading the Department of Defense, we should talk about their military service, what they plan on doing in that position. And obviously, the president has a lot of trust in Pete, which is why he named him.

And I think that should go a long way with the senators. You know, and not only that, all of these folks, they voted, these Republicans voted for Merrick Garland. And if they can vote for Merrick Garland, I don't care who Trump is putting up, they can vote for that individual. Yeah, Merrick Garland, Austin, all these people that have destroyed our military, Blinken and Secretary of State, who has a horrible record as secretary that was in charge of Afghanistan. That's OK.

And none of these people have been held accountable for any of the things that they've done. And and suddenly, because Trump gets elected, the swamp is trying to push back.

So I think we need to continue. I'm glad to hear that Pete is not willing to quit. He's going to move forward and put the senators on the board and let them be accountable to the American people in their districts for refusing to move along with what the president wants to do and get his agenda done.

Well said.

Well, Congressman, we're going to leave it there. I know you've had a super busy day and looking forward to hearing what happens in that meeting later this afternoon. Yeah, thanks for having me. All right. There you go, folks.

Congressman Greg Stubbe out of Florida. And again, it is a black and white issue for me, folks. Trump wants the person. Trump gets the person. after what this man has been through and what this country has put this man through, what the media has put this man through, Trump gets whatever he wants.

Do you agree or disagree with that assessment? 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Let's go to Maine. Is it Kate Elizabeth?

Yes. All right, Kate Elizabeth, what's on your mind? I want to thank you for encouraging me to call my senator yesterday. I called her, Susan Collins. I did get a recording, but other times I've gotten a live person, and I am strongly in favor of Pete Hegsteth.

I'm reading the book The War on Warriors, he wrote, and I was thinking of giving it to them, lending it to Senator Collins. But I don't want to finish. It's so helpful. This man is a real military man. I don't know about Austin or Milley.

They sure didn't seem like they were up to the job. But this man knows what he's doing, and I'm so hoping that he gets through. What a military man. I'm with you, Helene, and I got a quick question for you.

So you called Susan Collins' office. Did you get any response? Did it go to voicemail? It went to voicemail. I was thinking of calling back today and saying, I just wanted to make sure you got my message because I didn't speak with someone live.

I did call them two weeks ago, and I got someone live. But you encouraged me to call again yesterday, so I did. And I will call again and say I want to make sure you got my message. I am so glad you did, Helena. That's what it's going to take.

Every single one of us, we've got to work the phones. And you know what? It's really we've got a lobby on behalf of Pete Hegseth. That's what we have to do. And really all the president's nominees.

But right now, Hegseth and Joni Ernst especially, she's wanting that job. that's that's why she's pulling this nonsense and and that's got it we've just got to put a stop to that tell him to read the book you read this book and you know why president trump wants him in there he's so competent in comparison with austin millie all these other people all right well helene god bless you and thank you for for calling in thank you for listening and all of our folks listening to us on wlob don't forget download our app so you'll be able to listen to the todd Stearns radio show wherever you are in America. All right, let's go to Sonny in Ocala, Florida, W-O-C-A, our terrific affiliate there. Hi, Sonny. What's going on?

I agree, but I also think that the Republicans helped put Biden into office. I mean, have we all forgotten that tremendous statement he made it was on tv radio whatever get rid of that persecute or get rid of that prosecutor or you're not getting your billion dollars in foreign aid that should have alone should have prevented that man from occupying the white house you got the likes of uh senator who now thinks he's going to be the leader of the uh senate who is questioning the idea that maybe Pete Hegsess shouldn't be on the president's cabinet. Where does he get off? The Republicans are Republicans only. Take the word Democrat.

Spell it out on a piece of paper with a pencil with an eraser. Erase the C in Democrat and tell me what you got. I mean, this is what's running our country. even though they know they're going to be pushed out on January 20th. January 3rd, I think Congress takes over, but it doesn't stop them.

Why isn't anybody going after this Garland for taking his number three man and sending him to Washington trying to put Trump in jail? It's a terrific question, Sonny, and again, I hope the new Congress is going to be able to tackle this, And because these people need to be held accountable. And that was the whole point of all these hearings, right? Jim Jordan, James Comer, the whole nine yards. We were supposed to be out there.

These people were supposed to be held accountable and they were never held accountable.

So, yeah, it's one of the major issues that we've got to address is weaponization of the federal government that that's been happening under Democrat, the Democrat regime.

Sonny, it is a great call. I've got to leave it there, my friend. We are super late for a break. Again, our number, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926.

This is the Todd Stern Show. I don't really like working. I'm going to need a priority parking space. I only work remotely. How are your safe spaces?

Can I bring my dog to work? Will your company protect me against microaggressions? You're triggering me. Is this interview almost over? You don't run a daycare.

You run a business.

So why use high-priced recruitment agencies who charge you up to 40% of an employee's first year salary.

So they're focused on getting you the costly talent, not the best fit, which means you get more of this. What's your policy on paying employees to attend protests? I demand eight weeks of vacation. I need at least 12 weeks of paid vacation. I'm going to need a lot of mental health days.

Do you have a game room? My pronouns are Z's and Z's. Isn't it time you hired grownups? Call redballoon.org and skip those high-priced recruitment agencies. Call 833-880-0600 for a free consultation.

That's 833-880-0600 for a free consultation. RedBalloon.org. All right, welcome back. Let's go to the phone lines here. Let's start in Georgia.

Baxton is listening to us on WTUN. Hi, Baxton. What's on your mind? Todd, the Republicans, it just came to me like a shot in my brain. The Republicans, mind me, are those Pharisees that came to Jesus with the woman caught in adultery.

Oh, I do remember that story. And Jesus, he asked her and talked to her and everything like that. But we know what it first did. He bent down and he started writing in the sand. and he said he without sin let them cast the first stone and the bible says they left one by one you know why they left one by one and all my belief i believe that he was writing the names of the women that each one of them had been sleeping with Oh wow So you know this is interesting Baxton because you know if the senators seem to be upset and the allegations which are you know they out there The allegations are that Pete Hegseth likes to drink and he likes to fool around with the ladies.

So if they really want to go down that path, okay, let's have that conversation with all those senators, because I suspect that there are plenty of guys up on Capitol Hill that will be running for the hills, Baxton. Listen, not only that, but some of them, a whole lot of them, believe me, Todd, I know, a whole lot of them are involved in some of the most heinous acts that anybody could ever imagine. they they say they love jesus on sunday but they're hitting the bottle on monday yeah yeah i think i i think president trump's going to get who he wants and and i just i pity them because they're going to be leaving one by one whenever trump takes over because there's going to be a lot of stuff coming out about them that's why they're fighting so hard the ones that are screaming the loudest or the guiltiest. Like a stuck pig, Baxton. That's my word, Todd.

They're going down and they know it. All right. All right, Baxton. Thanks for that call. And thanks for listening to us.

Hang tight. We got Don in fair place after. We'll talk to Don when we come back from the break here. We have a little bit more time. But I am curious, ladies and gentlemen, what do you think about Pete Hegseth?

You've seen him on Fox. Maybe you've read his book. You've read what President Trump upset about him and he's again i've known the guy for years and the pete hexeth that all the anonymous people are talking about that's not the pete hexeth i know and not one bit by the way we've got an update on this alabama town they're wanting to have a christmas parade and the gays are wanting to take over we're going to tell you about that we have a major development there also uh this crazy story out of New York City, United Healthcare CEO. We have some developments there too. That is insanely weird.

Hang tight, everybody. We'll be right back. Exercise and a healthy diet can help, but that can be hard, especially as we start to get older. It's like the choice between taking the stairs or waiting for the elevator.

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I try to keep politics out of the personal Facebook page because we have the massive page. Over 360,000 of you follow us on the Facebook. But I couldn't help. With Houston, Ben, I know it's always the weird small things that really set you off. It's not the fact that we've got people getting shot in the streets every day.

but by god when they shut down houston's my beloved restaurant that's when i really we i lose todd i have i have something we have to share with you we just got your mcdonald's um because i know typically this hour you like your houston's you like your chicken tender you like your spinach dip they just brought mcdonald's by because that's about the only restaurant we have left so enjoy that number two somebody got knifed in the drive-thru at mcdonald's a few a few weeks ago and i did ask this how many more businesses will shut down or relocate because city hall coddles criminals want to know why people aren't going downtown because they don't want their cars stolen or their windows busted out they refuse to address crime in downtown midtown or any other part of the city now east memphis has become ground zero for the criminals meanwhile mayor Paul Young says the problem is KWAM Radio reporting about crime. He says crime is at an all-time low, and the problem is a perception issue. Is that what we're dealing with, a perception issue?

Well, I'll ask your listeners this. I grew up in a very nice suburb. It was, I mean, it was patriotic. Everybody bled the red, white, and blue. Todd brings me to Memphis, Tennessee.

I'd never been to Memphis before. I have now since living here just around three years I have walked into about 15 crime scenes just walking to my parking garage is that normal you guys I mean that's what I'm asking I'm not even deterred I just step over a dead body I don't even think twice about it do that once I remember no I got I've been a squirted out of my building a couple times because I walk out and I walk right into the crime scene we don't bleed we just bleed red here and a lot of it not red or just red not blue and white wow all right anyway i'm still fired up but again fair warning all of you folks if if you have a city like memphis and they're not addressing crime it's coming to your suburbs it'll happen and then you're gonna have big issues because these criminals aren't stupid they know what they know what's going down to those country clubs well because todd's always trying to get me to leave downtown but my problems have now become todd's problems because I have no restaurants.

Now Todd has no restaurants. We're both going to, where are we moving? Thanks a lot. I'm sorry. Let's go to Don in Fair Play, South Carolina, WDUN, our great affiliate.

Don, I understand you're a Navy veteran and you want to weigh in on Pete Hegseth. Vietnam War, one year on the same ship. Pete Hegseth should be a national hero. He volunteered. Nobody let him by their hand and said, go over here.

Then he stayed. Most Americans were sitting in Wendy's and having their Big Macs and all of that stuff.

Meanwhile, he was eating K rations, C rations. He's a national hero. Most Americans, unless they're volunteers, have no idea what it's like. Watching your brother get blown up next to you. What do you do?

How do you handle that? That's PTSD. What happened to John? He's in a thousand different pieces. That's what it's about.

None of these people have any idea, these Senate people, what it is. They need to go over there like Lindsey Graham did and experience combat. Lindsey Graham is an Air Force colonel who retired, and he experienced it. These people are a disgrace, Todd. Disgrace.

And please tell them that they're a disgrace. I was volunteering to go back, and I'm 81 years old.

Well, I'll tell you this, Don, and God bless you. Thank you for your service. And you sound like you're ready to jump right back into battle if they needed you. And you're just a good red-blooded American man. And I'm with you on Pete Hegseth.

And all this other stuff, like, well, he drinks.

Well, Hegseth says he doesn't have a drinking problem, and I believe him. But even if he was out there having a beer or whatever, you know what? He put on the uniform of the country, Don. and if he wants to have a beer then god bless him have a beer sir Todd let me let me interject what are the people think while we're out there for a year in the afghan desert doing the military provides a drink there you go I was on the ship I was on the ship and you have the em club and the officers club there's nothing else to do with drink Otherwise, you go out of your mind. These people, Todd, Todd, pass the message on.

These people have no idea what it's like to be in the military. They saw it on TV. But when you're doing nothing in Vietnam, what are issues? They don't know what they're talking about. They need to encourage them to find out what the real world is like.

War is hell.

Now, you're sitting in the jungle. It's 99 degrees. You can't have a beer? god you're a great god pass the word on don god bless you sir and again thank you for your service uh wow don said said what needed to be said all right uh let's go to our patriot mobile newsmaker line our good friend dalton glascock the ceo of my great company and dalton i know you're in washington today um got a question for you are are you seeing any government workers out there by any chance? First off, I would say I'm very glad I'm not in Memphis today solely because I wouldn't want to have to deal with you being hungry after the closure of Houston.

Oh, I'm hangry. I'm hangry right now. You are hangry. I hear it. I think all you're listening to is hearing your voice today.

You've been to Houston's. I mean, it's a great restaurant. It's kind of where everybody goes. It's really nice, and the people are friendly, and they always fill up your iced tea glass? Yeah, I mean, they have good, you know, they have good spin dip and some good appetizers, but I think every single time I visit in Memphis, you take it into Houston.

So I don't know where we're going to go now. I guess you have to cook at your house or something. Hey, Dalton, we were planning our Christmas party for the company yesterday, and we literally said we're going to Houston. That's where it was going to be.

So now we're out of a venue. There will be no Christmas because there is no Houston.

Son of a biscuit eater. We can always do maybe McDonald's. there has to be some good fast food places we could take y'all oh geez aloo it's unfortunate uh hey uh dalton interesting story out of the new york post today only six percent of federal workers show up in person on a full-time basis this is coming from a senate report i know they're talking about this today with the big doge meeting uh up on capitol hill but that could explain the The last time I was in Washington, it just seemed like a ghost town. Nobody was there. I mean, Todd, are you shocked?

When I worked for the House of Representatives, what I found most interesting was I did constituent services for the great congressman from Kansas, Congressman Ron Estes. And most of the time that I was trying to communicate with members of the federal bureaucracy, it would take me days to get somebody on the phone. And there are some departments that only communicated via fax machine. I don't even know how to operate a fax. And so our government is not being responsive to people, especially in the federal level.

So according to Senator Joni Ernst, she says that with government buildings are now averaging an occupancy rate of 12 percent. If federal workers can't be found at their desks, exactly where are they and what are they doing? And I think that's a pretty fair question. Todd, you know what would solve this? and, you know, President Trump did this previously as well, is relocating a lot of our federal agencies back to America and the heartland of America, take power out of Washington, D.C., and put it in communities that are actually serviced.

So when we talk about Department of Agriculture, it should be in the Midwest. When we talk about Department of Veteran Affairs, it could be in a different location than D.C. We need to serve our entire country, not just consolidate power in Washington, D.C.

Well, yes, exactly. And that makes perfect sense. again the Department of Agriculture have it in Kansas. Veterans, I was going to say Tennessee, but we've got an... I don't know if you guys heard the story.

I should give it to Texas. Give that one to Texas.

Well, look, have you heard the story about what happened, though, at the VA hospital? Apparently, we've been having orgies here in the great state of Tennessee. I don't even know what to say to that. You kind of left me speechless. I wasn't expecting that to be part of our conversation today.

Ben didn't prep me for that. But again, according to the New York Post, one of our Tennessee VA hospitals facilities, they're investigating an official who had sex with 32 coworkers, including apparently many at the same time.

Now we know why nothing's getting done in the VA. That's the only thing getting done. Yeah.

Sorry. Yeah, sorry. It's about, hey, when you only show up to work 6% of the time, or only 6% of the people show up full time, You have a lot of free time to do some other activities. Clearly you do. This is the Mountain Home VA Medical Center over in eastern Tennessee, and they're saying at least one official, one employee, had sex with 32 different coworkers, and at least 12 of them took part in an orgy at the office.

How is a doge going to address that? I want to know what the report before Congress is starting that is. Get some wet wipes. Yeah, gross. Geez, a little.

Oh, God. And that's interesting because the trend with people asking for remote work is really interesting. You know, I have put in my request to do some remote work for the station. And what have I said? No.

And I'm so mad about it. I'm now looking at federal government jobs because I want to work, you know, two days in the office and the rest at home in my pajamas. You know, Dalton, I am curious. I mean, you are in your other part of your life. You're a city councilman in Wichita.

looking at at the government and how just bloated it is i i don't think they're going to have a very difficult time just going in and finding things that need to be you know chopped um but when when it comes to employees again i don't understand if if your job cannot be done you know is not being done in the office do you really need to be doing that job you know there are some opportunities for remote work.

However, there is something very important about working with your colleagues and seeing people face-to-face, and I think that is incredibly important, especially for individuals in government. When you're working at members of the media, you're working in the Department of Justice, being able to be in person, especially with sensitive documents in a lot of our agencies, I think is very needed. I think there's a worry that I have that a lot of these individuals are handling secret documents, are handling documents that shouldn't be released to the public and people's personal information. And they're doing it from their home, which we don't know the security of their home. And I think that's going to be a challenge moving forward, too.

And I don't know how we haven't addressed that since COVID. No, that's actually a fair point. Dalton Glaskock on our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line in Washington, D.C. Are you noticing when you went to D.C., have you noticed it's just there? It's like there's nobody there.

It's almost like a ghost town. It is quiet today. I mean, granted, it's also freezing up here, and so I wouldn't want to be outside most of the day either, but it is much more quiet than I was here, you know, when I was here pre-COVID. Pre-COVID, you would walk in, and, you know, you had people in shops, and it just seems a little bit more empty than it did back then. It does.

All right, Dalton, thank you again. Good hearing from you, and safe travels. I'll report back from D.C. Anything else you want to hear the rest of the week? All right.

Very good. Dalton Glasscock, ladies and gentlemen, our guy in D.C. today. And that does make sense. The last time I was there, it was for the Barrett Media Conference.

And we were at George Washington University.

Now, the university packed with people. But outside of that, there's nobody there. Nobody at all.

So I'm curious, ladies and gentlemen, your reaction to this. Again, the New York Post saying only 6% of federal workers are actually showing up in person. Should government employees be required to work in the office? 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926.

By the way, tonight, 5 o'clock Eastern on Newsmax. Kimberly Guilfoyle is my special guest. She'll be joining me at 5 o'clock. You can watch on Newsmax, too. By the way, Rob Schmidt keeps beating CNN in the ratings.

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Rob Schmidt and Newsmax on all major cable systems. YouTube TV just added us. and if your system does not carry Newsmax give them a call and cancel go to get newsmax.com if you want to find a new carrier we will help you do that get newsmax.com all right welcome back to the Todd Starnes radio show we're going to get to the UFOs in the next hour this is bizarre people are really freaking out over these giant car-sized ufos and that have been spotted over new jersey people trying to figure out what's going on in the meantime we we do have some crime news to share with you keeping you updated on crimes sweeping across the Fruited Plain. I ain't scared of no pop-up. Call the pop-up.

Call the pop-up. This is the Starnes APB. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. Largo, Florida. A Florida woman.

You know, Dieter, it's always the Florida man or the Florida woman. A Florida woman became enraged because she did not get sauce from raising canes. she was arrested after confronting a manager at the fast food restaurant i hear raising cams is actually very good i've never seen it i'm just i can't get over the mug shot she's one of the purple hair magenta people well it's weird like the bangs are magenta on this one and then she's got like the the golden girl's blue hair it's very strange it's not a good look for her what would you do for a client and it's like what would you do for a klondike bar what would you do for raising cane sauce i guess she didn't get her eight pack of sauce mackenzie keeling age 31 became upset after placing a mobile pickup order and discovered she was missing eight packs of raising cane sauce police said that she called the restaurant and said she was returning because she wanted her sauce now here's the problem with the local news coverage here they don't say what kind of sauce she was demanding i'm just gonna go out there and say it was barbecue tangy sauce officials said that our officers said keeling became hostile both verbally and physically and was yelling in the restaurant and disturbing staff and customers the defendant then shot out her right hand with the force with force and it she struck the victim on her right thigh i'm assuming this was a human and not a chicken. Wow, there you go.

So anyway, that story there, she's been charged with strong arm robbery. Apparently she left a bruise there when she hit the woman's thigh, and she is now out on bond. All right, another crazy story. Dina, where do you find these stories? This is from the Daily Mail.

A naked man got tasered. lasered would be rough in this case that would be terrible uh this happened in um oh this is uh this is an international version this happened in australia perth australia happened at a busy nightclub a young man facing court after an alleged late night violent rampage that ended when police tasered the man and apparently he had lost his clothes butt naked yeah he was butt naked in his birthday suit, according to this affidavit, wearing nothing, just socks.

Well, you've got to wear socks because there's stuff on the sidewalks. You don't want to get your feet dirty. They said it stunned dozens of people standing by the incident. I'm sure it did. It stunned him as well.

He can be heard shrieking in pain after he went, where did they taser the guy? That's what I want to know. What were they aiming for? Oh, my gosh, Todd, don't scroll down in the video. there's a video how isn't this censored i need to blur that out a little bit yeah that yeah well it's australia they're they're a little bit more open down under if you know what i mean there you go all right i i guess he's doing okay because when they hauled him into jail um he was sticking out his tongue well among other things the guy was butt naked all right hang tight everybody if you're on hold we're going right to your calls coming up out of this break 901-260-5926 that's 901-260-5926 this is the Todd Starnes show live from the Liberty University studio in Memphis Tennessee It's America's conservative blowtorch.

That's us. That's right. I love this American ride. Todd Starks. All right.

Welcome, everybody. Hour three of the big show today. We trust you are doing well. This afternoon, big meeting in Washington, D.C. You've got Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

They'll be meeting with lawmakers to talk about ways to cut government spending, and they're estimating as much as $2 trillion in spending they can knock away. What do you think about this report, though? Only 6% of government workers are actually showing up. Everybody else is working from home. What would you do if that was your business?

I mean, geez, a loop. By the way, our telephone number, if you want to weigh in this hour, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Now, Dorothy is calling in from North Carolina and wants to weigh in on Pete Hegseth. Hi, Dorothy.

What's on your mind? Hi. I was just calling to say that Hespec is probably suffering from PTSD, but I don't think he just needs to get some help hopefully but he's not qualified for that position he's nominated for why is he why would you say he's not qualified dorothy what what not qualified he has been in the service y'all are making excuses for this man i believe he did the things that he's accused of doing do you have proof let's take one of those things what do you think he is accused of doing his own mother says he's he's uh violent or whatever towards women and then he was supposedly in a hotel and now she's trying to retract what she says but what she emailed him is what was really going on no that no no no Dorothy um the mother was on Fox Fox and Friends yesterday explaining all of this and as she explained it to the New York Times that she wrote a letter to her son telling him that he needed to treat women better. She wasn't alleging that he did anything violent, but the very next day she wrote a follow-up email and the New York Times refused to include that follow-up email in their story.

So they didn't have the full story there. Oh, but the full story is that she emailed him initially.

Well, sure, like any mom would do. Yeah, I mean. But you don't, I mean, anyway, I do believe that he did what he, otherwise he wouldn't have paid someone off to not talk about it. He was with another woman in the hotel. That's his business if he wants to do that.

But for some office like this that they're nominating him for, he should have better character. He doesn't have the right character to be in that. But I'm not surprised because look at who the president-elect is, everything he's done. but all i'm saying is they have better choices what about william jefferson clinton dorothy he sexually assaulted interns in the oval office no that's alleged alleged he admitted it he admitted it dorothy whatever i'm not what do you mean whatever why not you called into the show here you asked me my opinion about the hedge pass and then i really wanted to talk about the employees working at home instead of the office. I wanted to comment about that as well, because I feel like it's been going on for all other administrations.

So why is it a major point of emphasis now? Because my tax dollars are paying for it. Right. Our tax dollars was paying for it before.

So what's the big deal now? The big deal is that there's a lot. Do you believe the government is bloated that we're spending money on things we don't need to be spending money on?

Sometimes I think that's true, but I don't think we should be cutting back programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, child care expenses. I don't think we should be cutting back on those programs.

Social security. There was a time a long time ago. When is all that long ago in the 70s and 80s when you had moms that stayed home and raise the kids and then you had dads that went out and worked yeah but that's you can't do that now people in order why not people to make it most people have be for real no i mean i mean i am i am i'm as real as they come most people most families now cannot afford for the mom to stay at home and that's basically white moms during that time wait white moms white moms basically basically you have to are you a racist dorothy or a bigot no but no but you brought up race i i did because i'm a black person and i know that you can't just stay home and let your dad go out and work or your mom my mother and father had to work that doesn't make me a racist i'm just being for real well you brought up white women i don't understand why did you bring up white women it's because one of my best friends is a white girl oh so you've got friends who are white i see okay well that's good like y'all say just like you people say you people you people what do you mean by you people you and people but anyway i do you want to say it i'm a i'm a cracker A saltine American. No, I'm not going to say that. You said it, not me.

You were thinking it, Dorothy. No, I wasn't. I wasn't thinking that. All right, Dorothy, look, here's the deal. You have a great day.

All right, thank you for calling in, Dorothy. What are you laughing at, Dieter? I kind of want to set you and Dorothy up on a date. Was that not fun to listen to? Wow.

Todd and Dorothy. I would eavesdrop on that dinner conversation. But again, it's look, I think when it comes to Hegseth, just for a second here, and I'll mention the moms of the dancers. When it comes to Hegseth, look, here's the reality. If you're going to make an accusation, you've got to be man enough to stand up and do that in public.

You can't be cloaking yourself in anonymity. Otherwise, you have to discount it. And that's all I'm saying. and all the other stuff he's never been charged with a crime so i never really got around to understanding why she thinks that pete hexath is not qualified the guy has a a great degree he went to an ivy league school still came out conservative he volunteered for the military served in combat situations he has leadership skills got his master's in public policy so i'm not quite sure where they were you know where does that where does that not qualify somebody for leading the pentagon all right let's go to patty in north carolina wsic hi patty hey i was gonna talk about you since now this one really got me going dorothy you not in kansas anymore okay she you she may be your neighbor she uh there in the wsic land Oh my God I hope I don run into her She'd be running into a white MAGA girl. Oh, dear.

That might be a triggering event. Wait, Patty, are you the white friend she was talking about? Are you the white friend? No, I'm going to knock you on your rear end. You can get up, okay?

All right. Let me tell you something. Anyway, I want to talk about something. I was going to talk about Houston's. I was going to say, I told Vin, the best thing, you know how you can reopen it?

Have Tom Holman and Trump eat there. Oh. Tom Holman? Yes. He eats at Houston's?

Tom Holman. No. Have him eat there. Oh. Get rid of all that sense around there.

You know what I'm talking about. Tom Holman comes there to eat. And guess what? Houston's reopened because nobody will be around with Tom Holman sitting there. You see, Patty, here's the thing.

We need Donald Trump to come into Memphis and fix it. I mean, honest to goodness, that's the only thing that's going to save Memphis, Tennessee. He will. I mean, I just feel bad. I knew you were mad about something.

I had no idea it was over a restaurant, though. patty i take yeah i take i take my my chicken tender seriously and they also have you know what and they had the best red beans and rice on monday they only served it on monday red beans and rice yeah and you want to know something i'm going to tell you something that that houston's will reopen in 2025 mark my word i hope so i hope so all right patty good hearing from you take care now What does she say? She's going to knock Ben Dieter on his rear. I like that. Let's go to Steve in Jankson, Tennessee.

So, Steve, you want to weigh in on this New Jersey UFO thing, and there are more videos coming out from people. We understand now these things are about the size of cars, and now we've been told that the FBI agents who are investigating, apparently they're now reporting that these unidentified objects are now over their homes. What do you make of all that?

Well, first of all, I want to thank you for your show. I enjoy listening to you. You certainly have a great perspective on everything, including our good Lord.

Well, thank you. I want to tell you, we are part-time residents here. We spend the summers in northern Michigan at the tip of the lower peninsula. And for the last probably three years, go outside at night in the far northeast sky. There is a red and green light.

It sits there for a little bit, and then all at once it will jump over and move. It'll sit there, and then sometimes it'll move real slow. And if you watch it for, I don't know, maybe a half an hour or an hour, it will move all the way from the northeast sky over to the east sky. And it's always in the same place. And it has a red light, and it has a green light.

At first, I thought, well, it must be a helicopter, but it's not. I don't know what it is. but it sounds similar to what they're seeing in New Jersey. But we've been seeing that for, I don't know, the last three years. My daughter lives right on Lake Huron.

She said she can see it all the time. Steve, I'm listening to you describe it, and that's exactly how it's been described by many, many people, you know, who have been trying to film this. And it certainly gives the impression of being sort of like a plane, some sort of a fixed-wing aircraft, but it's doing things that the fixed-wing aircraft could not do.

So here's a theory I have. Is it possible that you could have a fixed-wing aircraft, and it's some sort of a military aircraft, and that military aircraft is actually controlling these drones that are the size of automobiles? Is that possible? And could they just be doing some sort of military, you know, trying out this newfangled equipment?

Well, you know, the one that we're seeing, I mean, it is so high up. You know, I could not tell you. I couldn't even begin to assess what size it is or, you know, how big it is. All I know, I can see a red light and a green light. And it's always in almost, it starts out in almost exactly the same place every night.

It's very strange. And I'm wondering, Steve, and we'll open this up to the phones here. I'm wondering if anyone else has seen what Steve is describing. And again, he's describing this happening in Michigan. We've heard what's been happening in New Jersey.

It's a great question. Steve, thank you for the kind words. Thank you for listening. Folks, we've got some pretty serious breaking news to share with you at this hour, and this is for all of our listeners out in California. There has been a major, major earthquake in the northern California area.

We're talking about a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. We understand that a tsunami warning has been issued for the San Francisco Bay Area. People are being ordered to head to high ground right now.

So that includes the Bay Area where residents are reporting very strong shaking and rolling waves. We understand the Trans Bay tube has been closed.

So, again, this is a pretty serious situation out there. We're not getting report of any damage just yet. But we do understand the San Francisco Zoo, for example, has now shut down. We understand that tsunami sirens are now being sounded along the coast all the way down. This is from Bonny Doon in Santa Cruz County.

So we're going to take a quick break. We're going to regroup, and we'll follow this breaking news that's happening, even as you and I are speaking here. But if you are in California along the coastline, and I want to read this to you. This is coming from the National Weather Service. A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coastlines near you.

You are in danger. Get away from coastal waters.

So there you go. That's the very latest from Northern California. All right, 901-260-5926, our number. This is the Todd Stern Show. all right so the u.s geological survey now saying that this is a magnitude seven earthquake shaking parts of humboldt county so we're talking about northern california southern oregon and there are tsunami warnings in effect all the way down into the bay area so that would be San Francisco and they're telling people to evacuate so if you live along the coastal area you need to evacuate there are some damage reports coming in as well the Victoria Inn it apparently the it was so strong it knocked this massive door their front door off and caused big problems in the a lot of broken glass in the bar area so that is certainly not good so we'll keep you updated on any sort of developments, but this is a pretty serious situation as they're concerned now about a tsunami.

And the earthquake itself, we believe, was off the coastline. It was a pretty shallow quake, which means that this could lead to a tsunami of some impact.

Now, the warning includes coastal areas of California and Oregon from Davenport to 10 miles northwest of Santa Cruz. Geez-a-loo. All right, so hang in there, folks, and we are monitoring, so any reports of damage, we will let you know, but right now I think the big concern is whether or not there's going to be some sort of a of a tsunami all right 901-260-5926 is our number that's 901-260-5926 so the um adam kinziger now saying that he's getting death threats we have some audio here i want you to take to take a listen to be kind of piggybacking on this uh despite trump's personal attacks against you and promises of retribution, not to mention many death threats that you have received since you have been speaking out. You say that you have zero fear of Donald Trump. Why?

Why?

Look, I've been to war. OK, Donald Trump. I'm just and I'm not trying to just be partisan shots here. He is a small, weak man who was scared to death of people. He's scared to death of strong people.

So for me, I refuse to be intimidated. I didn't break the law. All I did was get answers to the American people. If you want to come after me, you have to make something up. And by the way, if you make something up, I'm going to use that and become twice the pain in your backside that I ever have been.

If you're going to come after me for no reason. And the American people won't stand for it. I'm a bigger man than Donald Trump is. Yeah, no, I'm pretty sure you're not, Adam Kinzinger. I'm pretty certain that's not that's I don't think that's going to not going to work.

All right. There you go, folks. Hang tight. We've got to take a quick break here. 901-260-5926.

Again, our number 901-260-5926. Hey, head over to Todd Stearns dot com if you've got a few seconds and sign up for our free newsletter, our free podcast. Great resources for you. Stick around. We'll be right back.

so so so deter this uh this earthquake san francisco chronicle's got a major They got a huge headline. Powerful earthquake rattles northern California. Tsunami could reach San Francisco at 1210 Pacific time. There is damage. We just don't know how much.

There's a lot. This is a huge area. It's a magnitude 7.0 quake. But, Dieter, here's what gets me.

So they're doing these little blurbs, little updates. they're saying schools in Pacifica California are evacuating right now and then the reporter wrote Vallejo schools said people can pick up kids if they want so meaning if your kid's a little twerp and you want to just leave them leave the kid there you have that option get washed out to sea you know what this reminds me of Todd it reminds me of my biggest fear after watching san andreas that movie with duane rock oh yeah yes and it was in the aftermath of that massive earthquake in california remember he was on like the rescue chopper the pilots like flying in to get his ex-wife this is my this is my biggest fear that you're with your ex-wife in a helicopter well that but also the fact that you would choose to live on a fault line like is it the San Andreas fault line it's crazy I know we're on one right here in Memphis like people need to think about these things twice years ago I mean this was like in the last century you had the the the fault line here we had a big earthquake in Memphis or in the Memphis area and it was so powerful the Mississippi River flowed backwards and actually created a real foot lake if I know my history. I may have gotten my history a little bit wrong there, but yeah, we've got a fault line here. And as a matter of fact, all the new buildings in Memphis have to be built to withstand an earthquake. I think if the earthquake hits Memphis, we're all screwed, basically.

I can't even imagine. I mean, what's scarier to you, the earthquake or the tsunami? Remember watching the footage from Japan and that massive earthquake, and then you saw those billowing waves that were just ginormous that absolutely destroyed that. You see, I think, I don't know, for me, I'd rather have the tsunami than the earthquake because at least you can see that coming.

Well, someone is now reporting that it was actually Lizzo, Todd, that was just rehearsing.

Well, that's unfair. I know. I'm sorry. She's been on Ozempic. She's lost like 600 pounds.

No, we can confirm it was not Lizzo practicing and rehearsing with her flute. We can confirm that. really inappropriate so we're getting some reports of damage but not much but these swimming pools that's what gets me you've got these swimming pools and the swimming pools have white caps that's insanity so there is damage uh in humboldt uh there's also damage some damage being reported in davis california that's near sacramento and that's about all we can tell you at this point so at least according to the associated press this could just coming in at least 5.3 million people in california are under a tsunami warning as a result of the earthquake they predict localized damage but minimal oh that's good news so i some of those areas you know you have the cliffs so it's not like you've got major you know a major population they're living along the coastline but it's a fair point why would you want to live in an area that has earthquakes all the time that's a fair question. And also, those are people, I don't want to stereotype the people in the Bay Area, but they just seem like the last people on this planet that could withstand something of this scale. Like if it happened to middle America and flyover country, those people have all of the first aid kits.

They have all of the food that they're storing in their basements, the canned goods. The people in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where the San Andreas Fault is, would they be able to survive it's just something i think about i don't know maybe they're prepared for something like this you know it's kind of like the people who live in um you know on the beach and then they get surprised when the hurricanes come and their home floats you know floats down to cuba um and then our tax dollars have to bail them out and then they rebuild on the beach again and then another hurricane comes and you know their house floats down to i don't know nicaragua and then we got to, you know, use our tax money to rebuild their house again. At some point you say, maybe you shouldn't be building your house on the beach. Yeah.

Favorite story. I was talking to an old timer once. We're up in the mountains and we were talking about how this was, oh gosh, this would have been in the 1990s when people were really starting to relocate to the North Georgia, Western North Carolina mountain area. And they would build these massive homes on the sides, literally on the sides of these mountains. And the old timers, I asked the old timers, what do you guys think about all these city folks coming up and they're building these homes and tearing down the trees and they're building on the sides of these mountains?

And the guys were, the old timers were like, man, we love this. And I'm like, really? Really? You love? They go, oh, yeah.

They said, that property we sold them is absolutely worthless. You can't grow anything up there. the the there's not enough dirt you can't grow crops and he said the reality is these yahoos from the city don't realize that when you build a house in the mountains on the side of a mountain and there's a lot of heavy rain guess what happens ben deter it flattens the house yet you have the landslides and then the house slides right off the mountain and these people are shocked because like oh geez hello what oh woe is me my home just slid off the mountainside well maybe you shouldn't have built your house on the side of a mountain hey stop the views are great todd you're just jealous yeah great views especially when your whole house is sliding down a mountain i mean fantastic i just it just cracks me i mean in all seriousness though you've got folks that are literally building homes on the beachfront and these are the same people that believe in climate change oh that's true and so if you believe that we're losing our shorelines because the the tides keep on rising, why on earth would you then build your home right there if you believe in climate change? Yeah.

Look, it's a fair question. There was a song that we learned in Sunday school. What was it?

Something about the wise man builds his house upon the rock. I'm butchering this. And the foolish man built it on the sand. And when the rains came, it went splat.

Something like that. They should be in Sunday school. That's not the King James version. All right. Thank you for that.

So anyway, I know people get upset about this, but I have often wondered, why do we have to keep bailing out people who continue to build their homes and their towns in hurricane zones? I just don't get that. But anyway, that's just me. Can we talk about this? What happened to this executive at UnitedHealthcare?

This is a crazy story.

So it's looking like Brian Thompson. He was the head official, the top executive at UnitedHealthcare. And, you know, Ben, this is fascinating. People are not very sympathetic here. They're basically saying this guy got what he had coming to him.

Yeah, yeah. It's really disgusting because he represents big corporations and big pharma and all of the insurance companies.

So I guess they view this as a win for the little guy. The New York Times actually wrote a story about the blowback, and it is not a very sympathetic story. one one person commented thoughts and deductibles to the family unfortunately my condolences are out of network one tiktok user wrote i'm a nurse in the er and the things i've seen dying patients get denied for by insurance makes me physically sick i just can't feel sympathy for him because of all those patients and their families and that seems to be the argument here this guy according to the New York Times, UnitedHealthcare is valued at $281 billion a year, and this guy makes $10.2 million. That's his compensation package annually, $10.2 million.

So basically, the argument is, oh yeah, this guy is basically, he was asking for it.

so the question now is who who did this we can now confirm that the bullet casings there were words written on the bullet casings delay and deny this is fascinating that tells me either this was a professional hit or this is somebody who who was maybe a family member a loved one was denied insurance coverage and they decided to take it out on the chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare. Do you feel sorry for this guy, folks? I mean, if you read the news coverage, we're not supposed to be feeling sorry for this guy. He got what he deserved, and that seems to be the argument here.

So they've got video. It looks like the guy is of pale skin. I don't know if he's a white dude or not, but he is of light. He's a light-skinned complexion guy in a hoodie and a backpack who got away on one of those bikes that you've got to rent. Again, according to the New York Times, the words deny and delay were written on the bullet casings.

They still have not been able to identify, but they do believe that the gun was purchased in Connecticut.

So there you go. That's the latest there. oh they say them the the guy used a silencer as well so all right 901-260-5926 is our number this is the ton stern show all right the city of berkeley california now ordering a mandatory evacuation um after this 7.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami warnings are now standing in Humboldt, California.

So there you go. The orders from Berkeley leave now. This also includes anybody who lives, for those of you listening to us in the Bay Area, evacuate all areas west of 7th Street, including interstate 80 so marron county um also now issuing a tsunami warning and people are getting these messages by phone now you know if you're um i don't know if you've been in a large gathering and you're one of those alerts goes off and it's a little it's a little freaky but there you go so the good news is doesn't appear to be a lot of major damage as far as buildings collapsing, but, you know, a lot of broken glass and things of that nature. Hey, can we talk about Daniel Penny for just a moment?

So Daniel Penny is the young guy. He's a Marine Corps veteran. He was on a subway car in New York City when this guy named Jordan Neely completely lost his mind. And this guy was actually wanted. There was a warrant out for his arrest, this Jordan Neely guy.

He was on the train. He was threatening to kill people. And it was mostly women on the train, and they were all terrified.

So Mr. Penny steps in, puts a guy in a chokehold, and gets him on the ground, and then Jordan Ely dies.

So anyway, Daniel Penny is now on trial for murder. And we've been waiting for the jury. The jury's been deliberating for a couple of days now, and we still have no verdict. And so a lot of people are wondering what in the world is going on. could be a hung jury i mean that could be the the issue here but it seems to me that this guy is a hero and this neely guy he's the the dead guy a 30 year old homeless man with schizophrenia high on drugs was shouting death threats and he was literally saying somebody was going to die today and he didn't care if he was going to prison and that's when penny stepped in and he did what any good Marine would do.

Neely also had an active arrest warrant at the time of his death. He was high on K2, and he had a very long criminal record going back to a 2021 assault on a 67-year-old woman on another subway station. By the way, the parents of Jordan Neely now suing Daniel Penny, what they didn't want to say, and you're not going to see a lot of this in the news coverage, It turns out that the guy, Jordan Neely's parents, actually kicked him out of the house, which is why he was homeless. Maybe Penny needs to sue them.

So anyway, I'm telling you, folks, I don't know why it's taking the jury so long to come back with a verdict here, because the guy did nothing wrong. As a matter of fact, Daniel Penny deserves a medal. That's what he deserves. Unbelievable. All right, I want to play some audio here.

Congressman Pat Fallon, great American patriot, been on this show many times, grilling the Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe today. And it turns out that the Secret Service Director appeared at a 9-11 memorial event, not as the head of security, but as a dignitary. Take a listen to Cut3. Were you the special agent in charge of the detail that day? Actually, let me address this.

Could you please, staff, leave that one up with the circle around me. Thank you. So actually, Congressman, what you're not seeing is the sack of the detail off out of the picture's view. And that is the day where we remember the more than 3,000 people that have died on 9-11. I actually responded to ground zero.

I was there going through the ashes of the World Trade Center. I was there at fresh kills. I'm not asking you that. I'm asking you. I was there to show respect for a Secret Service member that died on 9-11.

Do not invoke 9-11 for political purposes. Oh, I'm not. I'm invoking this. You are, sir. And you are out of line.

I would like to ask him a question. Please. You are out of line, Congressman. Don't try to bully me. Order.

I am an elected member of Congress, and I'm asking you a serious question, and you are playing politics. I'm a public servant who has served this nation and spent time on our country's darkest day. The committee will come to order. The committee will come to order. I'm asking you serious questions for the American people, and they're very simple.

They're not true questions. Were you the special agent in charge that day? No, I wasn't. I was there representing the United States Secret Service, sir. Mr.

Bowne, your time's expired. It did not affect protective operations. You know why you were there? Because you wanted to be visible because you were auditioning for this job. I was there to pay respect for a foreign member of this agency.

You are out of line, Congressman. Vice President Harris' life because you put those agents out of position. Did you have a radio with you? Mr. Fallon, your time has inspired.

I did, sir, and you are out of line. I think we could all agree that the Secret Service is a hot mess, ladies and gentlemen. Wow. It just went on and on and on. But to the congressman's point, your job in the Secret Service is to protect.

It's not to be a dignitary. It's not to be a special guest of honor. Your job is to put yourself into harm's way to protect somebody. And clearly, that's not being done right now. Unbelievable.

You know, Ben, I want to go back to this earthquake story. CBS has a helicopter up, and the lines, the cars, there's massive traffic jams on the interstate, people trying to get the high ground here. They're really concerned that there is going to be a tsunami. As a matter of fact, in Northern California right now, there is now a report of a small landslide, some trees coming down. Oh, there it goes.

I'm watching some of the video there. but people are really getting nervous about what's going to happen in the aftermath of this big earthquake unbelievable so we'll keep you updated on that and i'm sure your local news radio station will have information at the at the top of the hour local news in san francisco now reporting damage should be minimal, but they are expecting some waves to come in. Unbelievable. All right, we're going to keep you updated on that story. Don't forget, tonight, 5 o'clock Eastern, Kimberly Guilfoyle is going to be joining us talking about the administration and the transition team, lots of moving parts.

Of course, we're going to have to keep our eyes on Pete Hegseth and that nomination. If you haven't already done so, folks, you need to be calling your senators. call them every single day every single day and let them know that you want them to confirm pete hegseth we've we've got to keep up the heat keep up the pressure on these republicans in the u.s senate we got to do it folks we just got to do it all right we've got to scoot out of here uh folks in the meantime be sure to head over to the website toddstarns.com we'll be posting some news stories later today and again five o'clock eastern on newsmax the todd stern show get out there have a good one you folks out in california be safe today